Urban WarfareCh. 6: Why...Author note: I know the attitude toward the Spartans is supposed to be rough, but I wanted to give the feeling that the situation was so desperate even ODSTs could use a hand. (Helljumper, I'll put in some anti-Spartan stuff later on). Enjoy! (Oh, and I can't seem to post comments. {Don't ask} E-mail me at industrial_avatar@yahoo.com)

1100 hours, September 18, 2552 (revised date, Military Calendar)in Covenant controlled Earth City, inside the Cole Street Subway Stop "Good to see you Chief, we could use a hand. Those Covenant bastards took out quite a few of our group." Chang whispered thoughtfully "I know you think ODSTs are supposed to be rude toward Spartans, but we've learned not to mess with you." "Thank you." The MC replied after salvaging a plasma rifle and a needler from the Covenant casualties. All of the other former-captives did the same-taking weapons from the deceased Grunts, Jackals, and Elites. The trip to the surface was quick, and at the top, Chang radioed the San Francisco to pick them up. "Chang to San Francisco, we have the brass and need pickup." "Dropships Echo-066, 048, and 028 are on the way. Also sending a squadron of Longswords for escort. Extraction zone is the old post office""Roger that" As the group made their way towards the post office, they encountered little resistance. However, they did come upon a group of Hunters and Brutes. Along the way, Chang found a glowing sphere in the dirt. Chang quickly pocketed it and they set off once more. Unfortunately, the Covenant wanted the sphere back. A huge group of Covenant chased the retreating group of survivors. "Goddamnit!" Pierce yelled "This makes the 150th look like a tea party!" as he dropped 3 grunts with headshots. Chang quickly primed a grenade, waited a second, and tossed it. The wall he was using as cover was sprayed with Grunt blood. As for Will, he got a nice perch on a tower a few decameters off. 5 Elites, 4 Hunters, 6 Brutes, 10 Jackals, and 2 Grunts fell to his Sniper Rifle. The Marcus twins leaned to the left and right of their cover, and blasted a closely cropped group of Elites and Jackals to whatever hell they believed in. Santiago used his pistol to down a pair of Brutes with headshots, and finished off a group of Grunts with the rest of his clip. He noticed that one Grunt's methane breather was leaking, so he chucked a grenade over into the mass of dead Grunts. That leaking methane tank exploded, causing a chain reaction. The flames leapt from one Grunt to another, causing their meth tanks to burst and spew fire like a Carrier Form spews Infection Forms. The flames leapt onto the rest of the group, and burned them all. Those who were no killed were mowed down by 2nd and 9th Platoons people, while7th Platoon and the brass went on to secure the post office. Just as they rounded the corner to the post office, they stumbled upon an ambush! "Crap! Take covor!" General Hoffmann yelled as he dived toward a ruined wall. The rest of the team did the same. "Sir, we have to secure the area. I'm going to lead a small team to flank them." Chang conferred with the general "Vo ahead, but go quickly!" "Yes sir! Pierce, Martin, D'Arguello, come with me!" "The small band weaved their way through the battered ruins of the once proud capital, finally getting behind the Covenant. They quickly switched to their silenced pistols, and used them to pick off the Brutes and Hunters. Unfortunately, one of Chang's shots accidentally pinged off a Hunter's armor, alerting it to their presence. The Hunter roared a warning to his comrades, and fired his fuel rod gun. Chang was too close to the blast, and got injured. Luckily, Pierce managed to pull him out. By this time, half of the entire Covenant squad turned toward the flankers. Privates Martin and D'Arguello quickly tossed al of their frag grenades, which exploded, spewing Covie gore all over them. One of the grenades managed to ignite a plasma grenade, because somehow, 3 brilliant blue flashes flared up, then ceased. "Where you hit, sir?" Pierce asked during the heat of battle. "You won't believe it; my ass..." Chang groaned as he fell into unconsciousness. "Damnit, Lieutenant?! Sir!?" The flanking team quickly pulled out. Since they couldn't leave the Lieutenant behind, Pierce kicked down the door to a relatively intact building and used it as a stretcher to carry Chang to a medic. Pvt. Martin helped, while D'Arguello covered them. When they reached the main group, they found 2nd and 9th Platoons helping the brass out. The battle was to lopsided, and the humans began to take casualties. A 9th Platoon LC was the first to go, as a Plasma Grenade welded to his armor. As a final act, he ran into the mob of Covenant with his suit's fail-safe activated. The resulting blast knocked a fifth of the enemy group (as an afterthought-he would get a posthumous Medal of Honor) But even that didn't stop the onslaught. When the Covenant were just about to overrun the small defense, # Pelicans appeared, and fired their chin guns and a threesome of Anvil-III missiles. Those that were not killed by the guns were blown by the missiles. The battle-scarred group ran onboard the Pelicans, and zoomed off to the cruiser. As they climbed up, Pierce took a look at Chang, whose left leg was torn open. "Why..."he muttered, "Why....."